Recognition

I didn’t even look for Jim Morrison’s grave– I didn’t give a shit. When I read Patti Smith’s book, and she described how much she loved the Doors, how deeply moved she was by them, I felt sad. Rimbaud, whom she also loves, induces some eye-rolling in me, too. Death! Love! Whatever. But we both […]

Lies

I had a friend who was a wonderful liar. She moved into town when I was in seventh grade. She told me she had moved to Prairie Village from Yemen. She showed me Yemen on a map. Whenever Yemen is in the news, I think of her. I felt hopelessly provincial as a kid, which […]

News Flash

Yibbet Turman here, reporting from Kansas City, Missouri, where something almost happened, but it turned out nothing did. The world is looking a lot like a Chopin nocturne, due to the fact that everything almost got destroyed, but it turned out nothing did. The trees are still looking solid and strong. Except that maybe they’re […]

Distance

When I was zipping through a practice exam to use with my students, I slowed way down to read Ralph Ellison. I don’t really know anything about him. I’ve never read Invisible Man. Strange as it seemed, I was enjoying reading a passage on a test. I immediately went back and ordered it from Amazon, […]